Month: July 2016

J. G. Ballard was the greatest post-war author Britain has ever known and his relationship to cinema is a curious one. The first cinematic adaptation of his work was Empire of the Sun by Steven Spielberg which remains Spielberg’s crowning achievement but one of his least successful films. The 2nd was Cronenberg’s Crash which relocates the Shepperton set … Continue reading Blu-Ray Review – High Rise→

Joshua Oppenheimer seemed like this extraordinary new young talent when he come onto world screen with his first feature-length documentary The Act of Killing and he was. However as always with an overnight sensation he has a back catalogue of work which only due to the success of The Acting of Killing and it's companion … Continue reading DVD Review – Early Works A collection of 12 Films→

As you might imagine from the title, Kiss of Death (1947) is a film noir. It marks the screen debut of Richard Widmark, who would become one of the iconic actors of film noir (and was still appearing onscreen into the 1990s). Widmark stars as the psychotic killer Tommy Udo. The story is over a … Continue reading Blu-Ray Review – Kiss of Death→

Ken Loach by 1967 had made an enormous splash in tele-plays with the original adaptation of Up The Junction and his best known and controversial Cathy Come Home. Naturally a career in the cinema was calling and Poor Cow was his debut feature which would start this extraordinary and long career in the cinema. He … Continue reading Blu-Ray Review – Poor Cow→

I had the great pleasure to talk to Jeremy Thomas and visit his extraordinary office back during the 2015 London film festival. Thomas had High-Rise in the festival and we talked about that film but also his extraordinary career which includes producing such films as The Last Emperor (which he won the Best Picture Oscar for), … Continue reading Jeremy Thomas Interview→